The past three years have been a process in what the Estero High School softball team hopes will be a continuing trend.

Estero has improved in each of the last three seasons – going from 16-11 in 2016 to 21-6 in 2017 and then 27-4 last year. The Wildcats have been eliminated by Fort Myers in the regional semifinals in each of the last two years, with the Green Wave winning the state title in 2017 and advancing to the state semifinals last year. The teams will play at Estero Friday.

“Everyone knows Fort Myers has been the team to beat in the area for a while now,” senior catcher Carly Campbell said. “They lost their top pitcher (Hannah Perkins) but we expect them to still have good pitchers. And Johnny (Manetta) is a great coach, so he will have them ready to play. The thing we try to do as a team is treat every game like we’re playing Fort Myers, try to bring that focus and intensity to every team we play.”

The Wildcats return a wealth of talent, graduating just two senior starting outfielders from last year’s squad – Katie Monzon and Zaria Smith. Talented senior leaders in third baseman Riley Ennis and Campbell behind the plate are back. To go along with those two, Estero has a slew of dynamic juniors – including the double-barrel pitching duo of righty Alex Salter and lefty Lauren Hobbs.

Campbell led the team with a .484 batting average and 28 RBIs, while Hobbs batted .440 and paced the team with 32 runs and was second with 27 RBIs. Ennis batted .398 with a team-leading four home runs and seven triples.

Estero is certainly strong offensively, but the pitching of Salter and Hobbs is the team’s true backbone.

Salter dominated last year, going 14-0 with a sparkling 0.26 earned-run average. In 106 innings pitched, she allowed just 35 hits with 17 walks and a whopping 213 strikeouts. Hobbs also delivered a masterful season, posting a 12-3 record with a 0.99 ERA. She struck out 130 and walked 22, allowing 57 hits in 85 innings.

Estero's Lauren Hobbs scores the first run against Fort Myers High during a Class 7A softball regional semifinal last May.(Photo: Andrew West/The News-Press)

“They’re both great pitchers,” Campbell said. “They’ve both got really good speed and really good spin. The local teams have problems hitting against them. When either of them is pitching, I have complete trust that they will take control of the game.”

“I’ve mainly been working on the mental part of my game and also getting my body in better shape,” she said. “I’ve been staying after practice, working on some things with coaches, and everyone’s been helping me out. I definitely feel like my leadership role is coming out more and more as well. I think everyone on the team is really looking forward to getting started.”

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Estero's Katie Monzon rips a shot to the gap and sprints around the bases for walk-off homer, a bang-bang play that had Palmetto Ridge miffed
Andrew Sodergren, andy.sodergren@naplesnews.com, 239-263-4731

Coach Crystal Stowell and her experienced staff – which includes former Estero and FGCU pitcher Amanda Josie – also can’t wait to get this season started.

“The team joke has been we need to get our ring sizes together because that’s what the girls expect, that’s the goal, to not only get to states but to win it,” Stowell said. “Obviously we know nothing is promised and there’s a ton of work to be done. When we started three years ago, we had a great young group and those girls are now seniors with an outstanding group of juniors behind them.

"This team has grown up together, it’s now their time. They’ve now got to go prove it on the field.”